Sunflower  

In easy chair, smoking an old pipe;
  I gaze through glass door
At the hodgepodge circle beyond
  Once well-tended
But age of us brought neglect
  And now a mishmash
   no less adorable
Voila! a lone sunflower!
    Ugly, scrawny,
The black center larger that the yellow rim,
    Yet still with character!
Days I watch as full blossom emerges.
And then -
I watch and smoke and it dawns:
  That sucker is staring at me!
Is he mocking? scolding?
  Or just strutting his charm
As he reaches full flower?
There's more.
Unseen at first on his left another budding fellow.
    Ugly, scrawny like companion before him.
[I named them Daddy and Junior]
And as Junior began to flourish:
  Two Peeping Toms!
They stare at me, through me
   Maybe chuckling. maybe dissecting.
Ah, but nature is nature:
  As Junior reaches peak
Daddy shrinks
  Still staring from diminished platform.
And when these two are gone,
  I forget not the mixed joy of
My two yellow and black voyeurs.